The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-12-25
coon STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAT.
A Railroad Mas has sens Remarkable
Experience In the Iane ef Duty.

leg, y station agent on the Il. and II. Hatlrohu
for a good many years., and several things oc-
Cured there which were the talk OF the line
and which you may find Interesting enough to
publish. My station was both Insignificant and
important. While IL was only . hamlet In
population. 1t was q railroad crossing. While
every train seemed to be in q hurry to get
away as fast as possible, all engines had to
take water or coal, and various trains had to
pull in on the long siding to let various other
trains pass.
Tho policy Of our road was %nieEardly.
The object was to get everything cheap.
and to work every man to the limit.
My station building was little better
than a shed. and It was impossible
to get roor any - REPAIRS sc9 as ,o 9r im K rcSpyusrmntsanr siotl
and all else. and dfd not have an hour | could
on cali during tho night. Let ,'em sound ny
call while l was IN the deepest sleep and inside
should have had a first-ciass assistant at my
station. but the company would not permit 1t.
! must o either sbd do . the T sTd ALONE wonIa or an get It, o ! td for
year always 81 thinking nI r 4 about ne going; bas never eve
slant strain. Train daespatching was not the
sime # /. Is ssn nSSI e sna Il 8 rs 81 aiSn st The se Inn. h'r
Q q the queer Incidents occurred after l
had hnd the station ABOUT W years. III. wasin
the fall Of the year, with a great deal OF nasty
last passenger train on 91r road passed me,
aneO passsd 10 at s' 7:so 4. H. Il. and Il t w va. supposed sns ossi
that Tia n the ip 9.sIyS1 Ing time tin s,m bslo o n to 5 ne. III Il
YET a a, cali on u Tie instrame IT. and adu Il there re was Sns
tSin speSS1Idal not on d 5as lip I :o and s L e f aSSen IS pt tas.
broken FIVE nights In II year. On oil other nights
was turned out from one to three or four
l2:05-fve minutes after midnight, She never
left nor took up a car at my station, leaving
seven or eight minutes for coal and water. II
there was . special on the line, or Il there had
been an as sn Z Mt;t the he, f r,GI 2 w ave to
freisht cams in, put somehow, Or other knew
and next morning. could have told whether she
was late or on time. Twenty.eight minutes
s n5ssF made tine me = r pnsssinssr tFnis S Sp ths ot Rss
eighty rods above It the station, and. while had
/ naturally kept track OF them and knew
tieuiar night Oh ! went to bed at io;45. and was y
awofee. The night. freight had not come in. 1
had been sound asleep, but knew she had not.
shf S Eas not ai'e Seen m sounded ISeTffhd is to sn me y @ea any
some sort Of accident between me and the next
station north. which was eleven miles away. 1
had gone. 1 ran to the. door and looked out.
There was a fine rain and a dense fog.
and l had known those on our limo to DO an
hour late without worrying ever the fact.
r nGTs snd tS Se t fos. t a1sh sro ! Tns at the yG isci of T ms
waking up as I had, the failure to raise the
agent ,sr ct the u station at. 1Ssoy ss t t9ess th 1iaE,s made ms
lantern. put on my rubber coat. and started up
the line on u run. | had not gone forty rods
t Hnes mi hsaea / later a%lsS 1 eou Vi S see The se gia rsS Of or a
headlight through the fog. In 9 couple. of m in
t ssss peTs l / ,Gsne cars ns and n a liz loeo .nsltSiRs-
and she was standing directly on the crossing
OF the roads. | began to shout as soon rs | had
me. 1 pushed along to the cab. climbed up,
and found the engineer and fireman on tho
and andf fast Ss .a asleep or dead. At that same mem oSm1asanrti
the passenger train on the other road whistled
II a am telling you, sir. that I lived a year for
every minute in the next five or, six, I knew
very little about an engine. though | had seen
l. Fa and SN g e au Il s9.ts&!R VIZ s did q Ses 1 ! nq ases sS
aP; s she be asae !. oy @ev we 3 The; s ssssm ae ha sd's aan
e sSMn; w aaa " 7 p mGSid h at s e sPa open pa tie e end
train; We We did ID i moye' how Say;a although
roar Of the passenger train. and | knew that
every second was Fastening a terrible calamity:
back! we, crawled. and Of a sudden a great
light flashed in my eyes. there was q crash.
a app \ shM Int into @ tRe dar in eaon' What's " me h anp h aip-
pened We'll. ! had backed the freight until
the locomotive Ct the 4 PASSENGER 2: train only car.
| was all the damage done. and no passenger
had q suspicion of his narrow escape from an
When the train had disappeared and I could
realize the situation. l began to investigate. I
found. / shouted and screamed. but soon
found that, ! was all alone. Then. climbing
back into the cab, sought to AROUSE Mpse the en-.
as two lordsl Yes. sir. They were drinking
mon. though the company did not know it.
weeks before. and coming down the line on this
trip had brought a bottle With the At the
IN fa1 their drum drSake eHe a%sV il s had suddenly do aEit pu lied
out and left ali the train crew behind. The
conductor could not re- readily Oily. And the station
answer his call. The two men had let the
down to the crossing and been stopped where
found It; The men were By that time too
and Rolled on the floor to sleep. 1 was vet IN
when the conductor and his two brakeman
steam we got the train over the crossing to tho
station. The two drunkards ought to have
story, getting into the papers they were al
i was With this anne night freight 1 had a
gone to bed and to sleep before It came in. It
was exactly II so. Us shown by tho clock, when
I got a call on the instrument, and Us sprung
out OF bed heard, the operator at K.-,a
station eighteen miles below me. clicking of,
For Gods sake stop and sido track No, 81
There's n runaway engine coming up the
linep. l got this by ear, you understand, andI
gave him an o. K rs soon as no was done.
In three minutes / was out doors and had my
Danger-stopv, signal set for the first time In
my lantern l could hear the rumble of No. 8 as
she crossed the bridge three miles above. She
was on time and booming right. along, but 1t
was clear and tho red light would stop her.
Il should have told YOU that there We're two
main track. Of course, and the other a long
the right Of way at night: and, instead Of side
tracking her. l proposedto switch of, the rum
could r v 4 and just as reached The switch !
unlocking the switch the, engineer called for
brakes, and then / knew he had seen the light
and would stop. / pulled the bar over. and
then picked VIZ my lantern and ran. back,
was coming to a standstiii. My purpose Was
to run down and open tho other switch, and
china Lot thu N ptf an Tho .ooln t.nai,